This past weekend at our Saturday Night Live Worship Service (http://twwc.church/snl) I preached a sermon called The Scepter of God. A scepter is a ruling rod of a king and is symbolic of absolute authority, power, and sovereignty. We know that Jesus has absolute and complete authority in heaven and earth. Over kings, rulers, and nations. There are scriptures that give us insight on His authority and what His kingdom is built upon.
Numbers 24:17 (NLT) I see him, but not here and now. I perceive him, but far in the distant future. A star will rise from Jacob; a scepter will emerge from Israel. It will crush the heads of Moab’s people, cracking the skulls of the people of Sheth.
The prophet Balaam prophesied in Numbers 24:17 that a scepter will emerge from Israel. He was declaring that some type of authority would emerge from Israel. This is a clue for us.
In the chapter of Genesis 49, Jacob prophesy’s to his 12 sons before he leaves the earth. He prophesied to his fourth son, Judah, these words:
Genesis 49:9-10 NLT 9Judah, my son, is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.
I’m pretty sure that Jacob was not aware of how significant his words would be, not only for Judah, but in the plan of God. When Jacob said, “The scepter will not depart from Judah,” he was giving, in part, a prophecy concerning the children of Judah. Centuries later, Jacob’s descendent’s formed a nation (Israel) in the Promised Land and kings began to rule. It was the descendent’s of Judah that became the royal line. The royal line started with David, and continued through Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, and many others, all the way through Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. Jacob’s prophecy came to pass: the tribe of Judah possessed the scepter.
When you trace Jesus’ earthly origin, you will discover that both Balaam’s prophecy and Jacob’s (Israel) prophecy were referring to Him. Jesus had come from the nation of Israel and was from the tribe of Judah.
God spoke to King David through the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 7:12,13,16 and said that David’s throne will be established forever. Remember, David was a descendent of Judah (the scepter [authority] would not depart from Judah’s line). When God declared to David that his [David’s] throne will be established forever, he confirmed the prophetic word spoken to Judah.
Generations later, the prophet Isaiah shows up on the scene and gives the following prophecy concerning the throne of David.
Isaiah 9:6-7 6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Two things I want to point out in this prophecy:
There will be no end to this government (rule, authority)
He will sit on the throne of David
So, Isaiah confirms that David’s throne will be forever because of this person who will come. Isaiah was speaking about Jesus.
Centuries later, the angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary and announced:
Luke 1:31-32 “Behold you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his forefather David”
Gabriel’s announcement to Mary marks Jesus as the Messiah and the One who will sit on the throne of David forever. From all of the scriptures mentioned in this blog, we draw the following conclusions
Jesus possesses the scepter of God (absolute authority). In other words, Jesus is the authority by which the Kingdom of God is built upon. No one can come to the Father except through Jesus (John 14:6). Salvation is given only through Jesus (Acts 4:12).
Jesus is God. By virtue of the fact that He has absolute authority indicates to us that He is equal with the Father. Jesus said in John 10:30 that He and the Father are one. Which makes them equal in essence and perfections.
Jesus reigns forever. What does He reign over? He reigns over All. Whether people believe it or not doesn’t discredit this truth. Jesus is the triumphant King that defeated the enemies of humanity – death, hell, and the grave. He is the Lord of nations and at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.
Psalm 37:4 is a popular and beloved scripture for many. But taking it at face value, we erroneously assume that it means God is going to give us whatever we want. I, too, have been guilty of using this scripture to justify my materialistic desires. My assumption was that praising God, going to church, and reading the Word were synonymous with “delighting” in God and the automatic response from Him would be new cars, homes, closets full of designers clothes, the latest gadgets, and whatever our hearts desired. Internal conflict arises when we’ve done all of our “delighting in God” duties and still don’t get the material possessions we desire. As a result, we become disappointed with God. We are disappointed because He didn’t turn out to be the wish-granting fairy God-father we imagined He would be. We didn’t get our way and now we have an attitude with God. The issue is not with God or His faithfulness, but it is with our own gross misunderstanding of this scripture.
Our Western, Americanized perspective associates the word “delight” with pleasure and gratification. However, the word “delight” is the Hebrew word anag and it means “to be soft, delicate, or pliable”. So the picture for us is to become soft and pliable before Him, treating God with delicacy and respect as we would something that is of great value. This idea coincides with the surrounding verses that encourage us to trust in the Lord(vs 3) and commit our ways to the Lord(vs5) both of which require humility.
Desires are a God-given attribute that we all have. Desires, in and of themselves, are not evil. The issue is when we allow those desires to take the place of God in our hearts. As we allow our hearts to be soft and pliable before Him, He begins to mold our hearts and our desires so that we ultimately want what He wants. Have you ever been told to “trust your gut”? At some point or another, we have all received this piece of advice from a well-meaning person in our lives. The truth is, we can only trust our gut (desires and instincts) when they are submitted to God. It is through the act of submission that we will see what we desire come to pass.
To be clear, there is nothing wrong with desiring material things. I don’t believe God has a problem with us having material things. God doesn’t want us to be consumed with obsession for material things. What he does want is for us to be consumed with Him our never-ending source of joy.
Over the years of teaching worship teams, choirs, and musicians, and having spent countless hours in rehearsals, I came up with a genius “hack” to save myself time and rigor in rehearsals. I figured if the music personnel have the songs in advance, they could learn their parts at their leisure and come to rehearsal ready. I know… I know…. “Andrae for President”. (lol) When I implemented this strategy I had high expectations. I mean, what could go wrong? If everyone learns their part, rehearsals will be smooth sailing. Well, pretty soon I would come to understand that everyone doesn’t know how to learn a song efficiently. It dawned on me that the crew I was working with was always given their parts and never had to learn a song on their own.
You may be one who isn’t confident in learning songs by ear. Maybe you can learn by ear, but when you sit down to play the song on your instrument, you’re lost and don’t seem to retain it. This blog is for you. Here are 4 tips to learn a new song by ear methodically:
Listen
Yes. Listen. As simple as this may sound, many people don’t truly listen to the song they’re learning. Most try to sing or play the song while learning the song and in the process they are missing so many details. Whenever I have a new song to learn, I listen to it 2-3 times (depending on the complexity of the song). My first time listening to the song is for enjoyment. I’m just listening to how the song flows, the performance of the artist and musicians, and mentally take notes if something jumps out at me. I recommend that you listen before performing.
Lock Down the Song Structure
My 2nd or 3rd listen is for information. I really pay attention to the song structure and look for patterns. How many times is the chorus performed? Is there a special bridge? How many verses are there? How many times do they repeat the vamp? I pay attention to these types of details so when I’m about to actually practice the song on my instrument, I’m well acquainted with the flow of the song.
Learn Your Part
Now that I really know how the song goes, I sit with my instrument and learn the part. It’s important that you practice with the reference track and listen to see if what you’re playing or singing is in sync with the reference track. On parts that you can’t get, just rewind and keep listening to see if you can nail the part. The more you practice, the better you will become. If you are a singer, I would encourage you to at least learn the lyrics to the song so the part comes easier during a rehearsal.
Play the Song without the reference.
You know you have the song down when you can play it without using the reference track. I have met so many musicians who have incredible ears and can actually learn the song without being at their instrument. The only issue is that they haven’t played the song without the reference track, so when they have to perform the song, they don’t remember how it goes. Sometimes when playing along with the reference track, you get accustomed to certain bass licks, drum chop, or keyboard hit and it cues you to go to the next section. When you are playing the song “naked” (with no other instrumentation), you are forced to remember how the song goes without any other cues. If you do this successfully, you have actually learned the song.
My philosophy to music teams is that we should practice at home, but rehearse together. Nothing kills the momentum of a rehearsal more than giving individual parts out to sections, or musicians who can’t nail the chop because they didn’t practice at home. When you practice the song at home and come ready to rehearse, the group can focus on their performance together rather than individual parts. I hope these tips help you learn songs more efficiently and empower your music journey!
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